If you are tired of being treated like a number, call The Law Offices of Melissa A. Day at (716) 616-0111
I made the mistake of seeing Avengers Endgame twice in a week before doing a major memo involving an LWEC determination (spoiler alert) and had a crazy idea to first map and then analyze the decisional framework that is LWEC. The entire point of stare decisis is so...
The New York State Workers Compensation Board issued updated Workers Compensation Guidelines for Determining Impairment on November 22, 2017. The Board also issued Schedule Loss of Use Frequently Asked Questions on 10/04/18 which can be found on the NYS Workers...
On November 23, 2018, Clarissa M. Rodriguez, Chair of the WCB issued Subject 046-1119, https://getmad.today/wp-contentwww.wcb.ny.gov/content/main/SubjectNos/sn046_1119.jsp, touting the Board’s dubious accomplishment in having reduced the appeals inventory to 3,297...
On May 23, 2018 in the published New York State Register, the Workers’ Compensation Board submitted proposed changes to Section 302-1.6 of 12 NYCRR in an effort to try and expand its legal internship program. The purpose of these changes is to allow for a more...
Justice delayed is not always justice denied; and waiting can make it more satisfying than you might imagine. The Law Offices of Melissa Day won a reversal of the Board before the Appellate Division, Third Department on March 28, 2018 in Matter of Yonkosky v. Town of...
Plaintiffs in the American Economy Insurance Company case have filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. The petition is the mechanism by which plaintiffs request Supreme Court review of the Court of Appeals’ decision finding that...
Here are some questions that were answered, and some that were not, during the Board’s presentation on the new SLU Guidelines. Question: Please clarify – should claimant’s attorneys and carriers provide both of the new C-4.3 forms to doctors to avoid an appearance...
Rick Costner, Sr. honors the life of his 18 year old son and co-worker, Ricky Costner Jr., after he was murdered in front of him at work by creating and raising funds for the Ricky Costner Jr. College Scholarship Fund I have had the pleasure of attending a benefit at...
I am so tired of seeing claimants get schedule loss of use awards. They do not represent lost time. They are windfalls. I am in the process of drafting a stipulation for a woman who is going to get $15,000 when she had no lost time from work. It’s a gift to her. I...
On October 24, 2017, the Court of Appeals in American Economy Insurance Co. v. State of New York, — N.E.3d —-, 2017 WL 4779421 (N.Y. Ct. of App., Oct. 24, 2017), effectively marked the end of The Fund for Reopened Cases by holding the 2013 amendment to WCL § 25-a is...
One of the greatest things the Board ever did for carriers was include a provision in the 2018 Workers’ Compensation Guidelines for Determining Impairment (“Guidelines”) that providers need to measure range of motion of unaffected contralateral limb and use that as a...
In a recent claim, we obtained surveillance of a claimant performing activities well outside of their doctor’s restrictions. From there, we obtained social media sweep-reports. Of note, the carrier’s obligation to disclose surveillance materials applies not just...
As everyone probably knows, Workers’ Compensation Law §21(4) presumes that a work-related accident isn’t only due to an employee’s intoxication on the job, unless there is substantial evidence to the contrary. Workers’ Compensation Law §10(1) similarly says that an...
The issue of apportionment is confusing. Many attorneys apply the wrong standard, the wrong timing, or both which can lead to a hodgepodge of contradicting decisions by Judge’s and also sometimes by the Board. One type of apportionment is “legal apportionment.” ...